1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a short message service for a mobile radio terminal and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for retransmitting a short message in a mobile radio terminal upon a transmission failure of the short message.
2. Description of the Related Art
A short message service (hereinafter referred to as "SMS") enables message communication between mobile radio terminals or between a mobile radio terminal and a wired telephone. In the latter case, the short messages from a fixed communication network (e.g., a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)) are stored in a processing unit of a motile communication network, converted to digital data, and then transmitted to the mobile radio terminal.
However, when a mobile radio terminal such as, for example, a Global Systems for Mobile (GSM) communication telephone is in a non-service state or cannot access a base station, the mobile radio terminal will not be able to successfully transmit a short message. Conventionally, in the case of a transmission failure as described above, the mobile radio terminal switches to an idle state or some other operating state, irrespective of the user's intent to retransmit the short message. As a result, a user should input the short message he or she previously input in order to retransmit the same. Accordingly, it would be desirable and highly advantageous to provide a method for retransmitting a short message that has not been transmitted due to a transmission failure.